Honeycutt Leads Cleveland Invitational
with 6-under par 66

During the summer of 2003, Ricky Honeycutt's golf swing often changed from round-to-round and from week-to-week.

During his first year at the University of Tennessee, Honeycutt got some help on his swing from assistant coach Bowen Sargent. It is already paying dividends.

Honeycutt fired a 6-under 66 on Saturday and took the first-round lead in the annual Cleveland Invitational at the Rolling Hills Golf Club.

Honeycutt leads Matt Mathis by four strokes, while five strokes back are Ken Lowden, Jay Goza, Jeff Willerton, Taylor Lewis and Tripp Harris.

"We did a lot of video work at UT,'' Honeycutt said. "I was laying my club off. Now, I'm letting my right elbow fly a little and that gets the club pointed toward the hole.

"I really learned a lot at Tennessee. I got better, but I really didn't qualify for enough tournaments.''

Honeycutt said his knowledge of the Rolling Hills course helped him Saturday.

"I played this course every day two years ago when I was playing for Cleveland State,'' Honeycutt said. "I know where not to miss it. There are some trouble spots, and you can go different routes. On No. 15, I like taking it down the No. 12 fairway.''

Honeycutt made six birdies, with the longest putt coming at No. 18 when he made a 20-footer downhill.

"I burned the edge of the hole several times,'' he said. "I really didn't drive it well, but hit a lot of good irons and wedge shots. Here at Rolling Hills you just take care of the par 5s and then just get around the rest of the course.''

Honeycutt made a 4-footer for birdie on No. 2, where he said, "I think I was closest-to-the-pin there.''

He made birdies on both of the par 5s on the front, and made a three-footer for birdie on No. 6. On the backside, Honeycutt chipped to 2-feet and made birdie on No. 12, and hit a 7-iron into No. 15 for a two-putt birdie.

"I'm going to play some local tournaments this summer, but I'm going to travel more and play in some bigger stuff,'' Honeycutt said. "And I'm also going to go to the second semester of summer school at Chattanooga State.''

MATHIS ON 70 ROLLER-COASTER: Matt Mathis would have been the tournament leader if he could have stopped after No. 12.

"I had it at 8-under,'' said Mathis, who finished at 2-under 70. "Then I got a little uncomfortable, a little tight and got it going left,'' Mathis said. "I couldn't stop it. On No. 15 I hit it so far left, it went out of bounds on No. 12.''

Mathis shot 30 on the front with birdies on Nos. 2, 3, 7 and 8 and an eagle on No. 4. He hit a driver, 8-iron on the 551-yard eagle hole.

After making a 20-foot birdie putt on No. 10 and a 2-foot birdie putt on No. 12, Mathis found himself at 8-under with six to play.

"I'm always on a roller-coaster, but never this extreme,'' Mathis said. "It was my first round of competitive golf this summer, and I knew I would be a little nervous. I've always been a little nervous.''

After getting to 8-under, Mathis went bogey, double-bogey, double-bogey. He missed a 6-foot birdie putt on No. 16, an 8-foot birdie putt on No. 17 and then bogeyed No. 18.

"I shot 41 on the backside up here last year,'' Mathis said. "You would think I would play it better tomorrow after seeing it again today. Really, I hit only three bad shots on the back. And on the front, my putter was so hot it was scary.''

WILLERTON, LEWIS AT 71: Jeff Willerton and Taylor Lewis each made four birdies and three bogeys to finish at 1-under 71.

"My round could have been a lot better,'' Willerton said. "I dodged some bullets. I had it at 4-under after 12 holes, but then I bogeyed 14, 17 and 18. Those last two holes are tough finishing holes. I was lucky to make bogeys.''

Lewis played last year at David Lipscomb, but would like to transfer to either UTC or Chattanooga State.

"I went birdie-bogey all day,'' Lewis said. "Overall, I played good, but made too many bogeys. I made a lot of putts, at least three or four outside of 10-feet. I hit my driver good, but my iron game was just not there today.''

GOZA EARLY LEADER: Jay Goza was the early leader in the clubhouse with a 1-under 71.

Goza spends most of his spare time with sons Tyler, 13, and Seth, 10, who play select soccer. A new work schedule, however, has given him more practice time.

"I'm finally on a shift where I can hit balls in the afternoon,'' Goza said. "And it has helped. I'm planning to play a lot of tournament golf this summer.''

Goza birdied Nos. 3 and 16, making 6-foot putts on each hole. He had a bogey on No. 9 when he left his second shot short, chipped to 8 feet and missed the putt.

"The greens are great, but I just didn't make any putts,'' Goza said. "I missed two 4-footers, but both had a lot of break.

"I just played steady golf, nothing special. I just didn't make any bad mistakes.''

TEEN-AGER AT 1-UNDER: Tripp Harris, the 17-year-old who will be a senior next fall at Soddy-Daisy, came in at 1-under 71.

"My game is coming around,'' Harris said. "The lessons from Hunt Gilliland are really helping.''

Harris had birdies at Nos. 3, 4, 7 and 15. He chipped in for birdie at 15 from 40-feet after hitting in the hazard.

The teen-ager had a chance to finish even lower, but bogeyed Nos. 17 and 18.
He hit to the left of the green on No. 17 and then hit a bad drive on No. 18.

Harris said he will make a decision on where to play college golf this summer. "Maybe UTC,'' he said.

LOWDEN TEARS UP BACKSIDE: Ken Lowden, who shot an 8-under Thursday at Rolling Hills in a practice round, made five birdies and four bogeys on Saturday.

"You just never know in golf,'' he said. "The wind was blowing bad in the morning and that made it tough. I made four birdies on the backside because it was easier after the wind died down.''

Lowden, a former assistant at the Cleveland Golf and Country Club, regained his amateur status two years ago.

(E-mail Stan Crawley at wscrawley@earthlink.net)